Call2Recycle® announced that battery recycling
is on the rise, although the increase is coming from surprising
places. While the increase – up more than 8 percent so far this
year over 2009 – demonstrates that Americans are recycling more,
the states with the highest increase are all in the south, a
region that traditionally is slow to adopt sustainability programs.
States such as California, Minnesota and Vermont, that are typically
green leaders, have dipped battery recycling.

So far in 2010, Call2Recycle has seen the
largest increases in battery recycling from South Carolina (99
percent increase), Kentucky (59 percent increase), Arkansas (55
percent increase), North Carolina (53 percent) and Mississippi
(49 percent increase). During the same period of time, battery
recycling has decreased by 7 percent in California, 25 percent
in Minnesota and 3 percent in Vermont.

So far this year, battery collections from
retail partners are up by only 2.6 percent nationwide, while
industries such as healthcare, higher education and military
installments have experienced much larger increases due to an
emphasis on sustainability initiatives in day-to-day operations.